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by Angela Blythe

  Bob and Adam told their story. They left nothing out apart from saying they were only talking in the grass with the two girls. That had been the girl’s idea and they felt like they had to oblige, as they were known throughout the land now as two fearless warriors. Wee Renee nodded at this. She knew how their reputations were now. She certainly had one. Alan and Tommy had proved that. Wee Renee couldn’t imagine how it was in High School if it was this bad with her. She could believe there were an awful lot of tall tales too!

  They got to the meat of the adventure. When they told her about the beast being in the graveyard, she was very shocked.

  ’What do you think?’ Adam asked.

  ’It was after us, wasn’t it?’ Bob asked.

  ’That is one of the options yes. And there is a strong case for that. If it has been at the School one day and watching you on your date the next day up there, I can see why you would think that’ she said.

  ’What else could it be?’ Bob asked.

  ’It could have been about before you got there, I suppose. It could live there, not on the Moors as we think. It could have just gone by chance, because of smell. It could smell that people had gone in there, maybe following one of the girl’s perfumes, and followed it to see. I am comforted that it has not attacked you. Maybe a group of four people was just too many for it to tackle. I’ll have to remember that,’ Wee Renee said.

  ’Do you think we are in danger?’ Adam asked.

  ’I would say that you definitely aren’t out of danger. You’re right. Out of all the people that are in the Friarmere gang, no-one else has had a sighting. That may mean that they are less observant. But I doubt it. I think we are all pretty keyed up, after what we went through,’ Wee Renee said. Her telephone began to ring.

  ’Excuse me,’ Wee Renee said and went to the phone. She picked it up.

  ‘Hello?’ She said, then listened for a second. ‘Aye, hello. I didn’t think you would be ringing this morning,’ Wee Renee pointed at the phone and put up her thumb. ‘I am up with the cock every morning, don’t worry about that,’ she said.

  They had heard Wee Renee say this expression before and it always made them titter. This morning it did too. Wee Renee rolled her eyes at them, she knew what they were thinking.

  ‘How terrible. Yes, your right, there is no question about it now.’ Another pause. ‘Yes, thank you for telling me. We’ll talk about it later, you might have to be brought into the circle. You may have no choice now,’ she said. The two boys looked at one another. They wondered who she was talking to.

  ‘Right well. We will have a meeting about it. I’ll call you, alright. Bye Alan,’ She said and put the phone down. The two boys knew that something had happened after they had gone. It had to be that, Alan’s car was outside last night. Wee Renee walked back over to them. ‘That was Alan,’ Wee Renee said.

  ’We told you he was there. We saw his car. Something happened, didn’t it?’ Bob asked.

  ’It did. When he was going, he saw it leaving The Grange. It must have come out of that back gate and walked straight through the front yard, then hid behind the gatepost. When Alan drove off, he saw it in the rear-view mirror squatting down just the other side of the wall. That definitely confirms your story there was no mistake about shafts of wheat or whatever you thought it was. That was fur.’

  ’So, you think you have to bring him into our gang now?’ Adam asked.

  ’If he wants to. He has witnessed the supernatural now, and he is already one of us. By that I mean, one of Friarmere Band, isn’t he?’ She asked. Both the boys nodded.

  ‘Now I’ve put up the map now you fetched. I’ve got special pins for it. Silver and gold,’ she said. ‘Let’s go and take a look.’ When they walked into Wee Renee’s living room, she had cleared off half a wall and put up the giant map. There were currently two pins on it. One in the School and one on the Moors.

  ‘I have one for the evidence that’s silver and one for confirmed sightings that’s gold. So, the confirmed sighting on the Moors by Tommy and Suzanne is a gold one. Even though we know it was there, we only have evidence at the School, so that is the silver one.’ She picked up a gold pin.

  ‘Confirmed sighting,’ she said and pushed it into The Grange. ‘I’m going to go up looking for evidence, do you want to come?’ They were not interested but said they would only do it in the light and as long as Wee Renee was with them.

  ’I’m depending on you two to show me exactly where you were. If I have to go trampling around up there, guessing, I might ruin any evidence that is up there,’ Wee Renee said raising her eyebrows. ‘Shall we go now? I’ve got all the bags and stuff ready. I am prepared to collect any evidence at all times.’

  ’Yes, let’s get it over with,’ Bob and Adam said. She put her coat on and began to pick up items. She seemed to consider a pair of swimming goggles for a long time, then leave them. Bob and Adam never got tired of Wee Renee.

  The three of them walked down Wee Renee’s drive. Bob and Adam glanced back at their house to see if Sue and Tony were watching. They didn’t seem to be. They kept their eyes on the house all the way up Wellmeadow, until they made it onto Church Road, which would take them eventually up to The Grange.

  ’Wee Renee are you going to tell our Mum?’ Bob asked.

  ’No, I can just say that Alan saw it and if we find some evidence, that will confirm Alan’s story. What about that?’ Wee Renee asked. The two boys breathed a sigh of relief. The two boys hoped they found some evidence. Some fur just caught on a wheatsheaf or something. When they got up to The Grange, the back gate was still open. As they had left it like that, they didn’t think it likely that the beast would have shut it behind them.

  Somehow this felt even more sinister now, knowing what they knew from Alan. And the further fact that there had been two girls and a lot of bravado in the air the previous night.

  ’Watch yourself, Wee Renee. There are loads of holes at the side of the graves. They are caving in,’ Adam said.

  ’Very interesting,’ Wee Renee said. Wee Renee spent at least ten minutes looking down the sides of graves.

  ‘Wee Renee, what are you doing? Do you think it’s down there?’ Adam asked.

  ‘No young Adam. I was wondering if I could see an old coffin, or even better a wee skeleton. Surprisingly there’s no fetid smell coming from out of there,’ Wee Renee said. One of the joys of Wee Renee was that she found everything exciting.

  ‘Oh ok. Well, we need to go soon before questions get asked,’ Bob said.

  ‘Of course. Lead on Macduff!’ Wee Renee announced. They walked in the middle of the graveyard where Adam had seen it, and Bob thought he had seen it too. There was obviously a crushing of the grass, but they could not find any further clues.

  ‘Now show me where you were when it was coming towards you?’ Wee Renee asked. The two boys walked forward and showed her. There were two flattened areas of grass six feet apart.

  ’Oh aye!’ Wee Renee said and let out a little chuckle. The two boys didn’t say anything. On the patch that Bob had been on, right at the back, there was a piece of evidence.

  ’Look at this,’ Wee Renee said excitedly.

  ’What is it? This was where I was,’ Bob said.

  ’Doo doo,’ Wee Renee said, ‘and I take it, it isn’t yours or your girlfriends?’

  ’Of course, it isn’t,’ Bob said.

  Wee Renee got down on her haunches and looked at the droppings.

  ’Same as before. If I really wanted to make a good job of this, I could look at all three droppings and confirm that they are the same, but that’s going a bit in-depth for me at the moment. I don’t know what I’d be looking for and probably just ruin a load of slides,’ Wee Renee said.

  ‘It wasn’t there last night,’ Bob said. ‘Me and Zoe had our heads there, and neither of us got covered in poo,’ Bob said.

  ‘It might have just dropped off on the way back,’ Adam said. Bob touched the back of his head.

  ‘That’s codswal
lop. So, what we are saying is, it came up here and pooed where you had been Bob. If it is after either of you, it’s after you. I’m sorry to say that Bob,’ Wee Renee said. Bob gulped.

  That afternoon, Wee Renee decided to have a walk down to Maurice’s house and update him on recent events. She valued his opinion, so was interested to see what he thought about it.

  It wasn’t too bad a day, no wind or rain. Wee Renee took some of the fur in the bag to show him. She knocked on the door, he let her in immediately, very pleased, then went to make a tea.

  After bringing in the two cups, out came the biscuits and Maurice settled down for the next instalment. He was excited to get an early updating of the facts from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

  Firstly, she told him about Bob’s rustling issue at the School and that neither Sue or Tony were aware, so not tell them until the time was right. Wee Renee relayed her mission down there and described the area, fur and droppings.

  The next story was about the graveyard at the back of The Grange. Maurice had already drunk his tea before he realised, as he kept having glugs at every exciting bit. She missed out the fact that Bob and Adam were up at The Grange but told him that Alan had seen the beast, after going up there to look at some music. Later, on scouting around and finding the back gate open to the graveyard she had found another dropping.

  ‘It likes shitting alright, doesn’t it,’ Maurice said.

  ’I suppose there isn’t much to do for it besides that, and killing people,’ Wee Renee said. They both laughed. It was nice that they could laugh about something like this, and that was what spending last winter hunting vampires had done for them. A silver lining in every cloud.

  ’I’m going to ring around when I get home. Ask everyone for a meeting at the Pub tonight. A lot should be able to make it, are you up for that Maurice?’ Wee Renee asked.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Maurice said. He sat silently in his chair, thinking about the evidence that Wee Renee had presented him. ‘So, it’s definitely not a local, natural animal and it has only been seen on the Moors, the School and The Grange?’

  ‘At the moment, yes,’ Wee Renee said. ‘but think of all those places between the Moors, and the donkey path. The following night it was out at The Grange. It’s roaming around, Maurice. It’s just that we don't see it. What it is doing there? There could be poopoo’s everywhere, and we just don’t know that it’s him.’ Maurice nodded sagely at her words, it was a lot to think about. There wasn’t enough to go on yet. They needed more evidence.

  11. Sleepover Time

  Wee Renee had called Pat and asked her to split the phone calls between the two of them. They rang around all the Band members, asking if they would be attending the special meeting. When Wee Renee rang Sue and Tony, she also asked to speak to Bob and told him that his parents would not be hearing about his adventures at the meeting.

  ‘Has any new stuff happened since we last saw you?’ Bob asked.

  ’No, why?’ Wee Renee asked.

  ’Because we were thinking of having a sleepover and my Mum said we could. But now this meeting has been called. We’ve already asked our two mates to come. Wee Renee, can me and Adam not come to it? You know, we could ask Mum and Dad to update us if anything gets said?’ Bob asked.

  ’That’s fine by me,’ Wee Renee said, ‘As long as it’s alright by your Mum and Dad.’ Then she lowered her voice on the phone in case Sue and Tony could hear her. ‘If you’ve got two other mates with you, you should be perfectly safe on your own in the house, shouldn’t you? Just don’t go out!’ Wee Renee said.

  ’Yes, we’ll be fine. Our Mum and Dad will be back after the pub anyway,’ Bob said.

  ‘Right, well I’ll speak to you soon then,’ Wee Renee said.

  The final person that she rang was Alan. She advised him about the meeting at the Pub. Wee Renee made sure that he was aware that, the topic of discussion would only be the new mystery and not Friarmere Band.

  ‘What do you think Alan? Are you interested in joining the throng?’ Wee Renee asked. Alan thought for a moment before answering.

  ‘I’m definitely interested. I don’t like anything snooping around my business and now that The Grange is my business, I’m in. Besides that, I don’t want all you lot in the loop, and me out of it!’ Alan said.

  ‘Ann is very welcome too, you know,’ Wee Renee said.

  ‘I’ll ask her. If she doesn’t want to come, I’ll update her when I come in. She will probably choose to stay in with the dog. I’m sure she much prefers that to going out in the cold and talking about how many things are out to kill her,’ Alan said.

  ’See what she says. If she wants to join us in the future that’s absolutely fine,’ Wee Renee said.

  ’Thanks,’ Wee Renee. I’ll see you later,’ Alan said finally.

  This was exciting, Wee Renee thought. She had a couple more bits of evidence to put forward to them. They would realise that this was only the beginning. The old gang was back together.

  This was like the early days of the Friarmere vampire war all over again. That bit was always the most fun for Wee Renee. Where they didn’t know if it really was true and if everything wasn’t too far-fetched. After their experiences this winter, nothing seemed out of the question, and a supernatural being would be the first conclusion that they jumped to, instead of the last.

  Bob’s friends arrived about seven. Sue had cooked three types of pizza and had bought quite a lot of crisps and soft drinks. There was a mini gaming tournament planned, and they also had satellite television to watch afterwards.

  The two other boys wanted to watch a horror film with Bob and Adam. Bob and Adam had the feeling that they would get questioned again, just like they had the previous night with Zoe and Emily. That particular subject always seemed to come up.

  Sue and Tony got themselves ready to go down to the Pub

  They walked down happily, Sue linking arms with Tony. She loved the boys, but it was nice to have an evening out on her own with Tony. She hoped she wouldn’t come across their new foe. Sue knew it was still stuck on the Moors, where it lived, so wouldn’t be down here.

  She listened for any howls, but the night was soundless. Sue supposed that it was far too much to hope, that it just went back on the Moors and died somewhere. Dropped down a giant pit or something and broke its neck.

  As they got close to the Pub, they could tell that Lauren had made it cosy, even from a distance. They could see their friends slowly making their way towards the entrance to glowing warm windows and open door.

  There was Maurice with this stick. Freddie and Brenda getting out of their car. Gary was just in front of them quite noticeable in his cowboy hat, and what looked like Pat and Jackie just behind them. Yes, definitely the gang were back together again. Safety in numbers.

  Bob’s friends had already questioned them before they started playing the game. They hadn’t waited half an hour after Sue and Tony had gone out to ask everything they wanted to know. The first boy spoke up.

  ‘Listen, mate, there’s a rumour that you Bob, had a long sword. That you used to hack away at them bloodsuckers. Japanese steel this lad called it,’ the boy informed them.

  ’There was a sword, but it wasn’t mine. It was a woman in Melden’s sword, called Our Doris. She used that herself,’ Bob said. ‘I used a big long metal knife sharpener from the butcher shop. I suppose you could say that was a bit like a sword. It could never be called Japanese Steel though,’ The boys seemed a bit disappointed in this.

  ‘Where is it? Can we look at it? Touch it?’ The boy asked.

  ‘No,’ Bob said.

  ‘Why?’ The boy asked.

  ‘I left it stuck up a vampire’s arse,’ Bob told them frankly. Then the other one plucked up the courage to speak.

  ‘What did you use to fight them with Adam?’ He asked.

  ‘I … erm … I did a lot of scouting. I’m quite good at climbing and managed to get up on the roofs in the High Street. I used to go up there. Run over
the terraced roofs. I could tell them where the enemies were coming from,’ Adam said.

  ‘That’s good,’ the boy said. Running around on the top of roofs seemed far more exciting than what Bob had done apparently. Adam neglected to tell them that he was a vampire when he was doing this

  ’I did break a couple of the vampire kids necks too,’ Adam said. ‘That was quite satisfying,’ the two boys were clearly in awe.

  ‘Let’s look what horror films are on,’ one of them said.

  Bob and Adam went back to general chatting again. They wondered how long this infamy would last in Friarmere and whether these boys had come just because they wanted to be with the two that everyone was talking about. When would this be old news?

  They decided to watch Halloween, which was as good as anything else. There were no vampires or werewolves or ghosts. Just a good old psychopath.

  ‘Can we take some selfies of you and us together?’ the boys asked.

  ‘I don’t see why not,’ Adam said. They wanted to have the backdrop of their Halloween film behind them, and so they took the pictures in front of the TV, with the living room window behind them. Each took about five pictures with Bob and then Adam. The two boys looked at them properly afterwards.

  ‘Yeah,’ they said, ’that’s great.’ They seemed like were happy now and could relax. Now they had proof, Adam and Bob thought. It was obvious. But there was a change in these boys. They seemed like they felt that they were heroes themselves, just by being with the Bob and Adam.

  Forever after, Bob and Adam would have the nicknames Japanese Steel and Spiderman. It would take them over a year to find out.

  The creature was looking up at the small one. It could see everything in there. The lights were on, and the curtains were open.

  Tonight, not only had the small one, got his usual companion with him, but two more. There was no way that he could get it. Get what it needed from the small one.

  It would check on the other item that paired with it and see if he could pick up the match’s scent. It would watch the small one for patterns of behaviour. It would hide for a while and later check that the other thing was still there. The box. The box that held its lover.